A Challenge: Ombre Cake

Both of the words in the title of this post were a challenge for me. "Cake" because I am sooo not a baker (hence the fact that I'm using a cake mix out of a box!) and "ombre" because it took a lot of planning and testing to figure out the right coloring to create that effect. I think I succeeded at this callenge, though, because both the cake and the coloring turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

I found this idea on Pinterest, and of course it was pinned from another blog. The blog didn't give very good directions though and proved to be pretty much unhelpful, so I had to figure it out more or less on my own. I used the picture and the basic description on the blog as the basis and went from there, and decided to make my life easier by using a box cake mix instead of making the cake from scratch like the blogger did.

My friend Lauren and I were hosting a St. Patty's Day brunch and wanted to have a cake to celebrate our neighbor (and friend - or "freibor" as she likes to call us) Joanna's birthday, which was the following week. I thought this cake would be a great idea because I could make the inside green for St. Patty's Day and have "Happy Birthday" on the top. The best of both worlds!

I used green food coloring because it was St. Patty's Day, but you could use any color you want. You could even skip the ombre and do different pastels for Easter this weekend, like blue, green, yellow, and pink. If you were to do that, you would probably just use the same number drops of food coloring for each color instead of varying them as we will do in the ombre recipe.

No, I am not a baker, and yes, I did use a store-bought cake mix for this recipe, but I made it my own by adding the almond extract and using light olive oil instead of vegetable oil. So it'll be a little more special than just plain old box cake mix.

OK, let's get... bakin'?

Ombre Cake

Servings: However many can eat a 4 layer round cake. Could be 8... could be 1. If it's 1, don't worry - I won't judge you ;-)
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Prep time: about 45 minutes

Ingredients:
2 boxes white cake mix - I used Betty Crocker Super Moist, so the eggs, water, and oil measurements are based on this. If you use a different brand, follow the directions on the back for that
6 egg whites
2 1/2 cups water
2/3 cup light olive oil
2 tablespoons almond extract
Food coloring of your choice (I used green). Measurements to follow in recipe
2 tablespoons butter
2 containers store-bought white icing
Sprinkles of your choosing

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

To start off, grease four round cake pans with butter. Using a paper towel, smear 1/2 tablespoon of butter around the bottoms and sides of each of the four pans.

Prepare each box of the cake mix in a separate bowl, so to begin you're going to be using two bowls. In each bowl, add one box of cake mix, 3 egg whites, 1/3 cup light olive oil, 1 1/4 cup water, and 1 teaspoon almond extract. Using an electrick mixer, beat on low for 30 seconds and then on medium for two minutes, making sure there are no lumps in the batter.

From here, you're going to divide the batter into four separate bowls. You already have two bowls, so you'll need two more. Pour half of each original bowl of batter into a new bowl, leaving you with four bowls each containing 1/4 of the cake batter.

Now we're going to add the food coloring. Arrange the bowls in a line. In the first bowl, add 22 drops of food coloring. In the second bowl, add 15 drops of food coloring. In the third bowl, add 10 drops of food coloring. In the fourth and final bowl, add 5 drops of food coloring.

Starting with the fourth bowl (the one with only five drops of food coloring), stir with a mixer on low for about 30 seconds, until all of the food coloring is evenly incorporated into the batter. Do this to all of the bowls, so next - do the third bowl (the one with 10 drops), followed by the second bowl (the one with 15 drops), and lastly the bowl with 22 drops. (You do it this way so that you're not transferring more color to the other bowls that are supposed to have less color. Make sense?)

Here are the third and fourth bowls:

Transfer the batter from each bowl into each of the four buttered cake pans and place them in the oven (all on a middle rack) to cook for about 20-25 minutes. Start checking them at the 20 minute mark by inserting a toothpick into the center. When the toothpick comes out clean, the cakes are done baking. Remove all four from the oven.

Remove the cakes from the pans, gently, careful not to break any of them. Place the cakes on a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting the cake:

Once the cakes are cool, cut the rounded topes off of each cake so that they are flat, like this:

Line your cake stand with several small sheets of parchment or wax paper so that they overlap around the edges but don't really cover the center.

Place the darkest colored cake layer in the center of the cake stand. Start by using a knife or icing spatula to dump about 1/3 of the first container of icing onto the top of the first layer of cake. Use the knife to spread the icing in an even layer, not bothering with the sides.

Place the second darkest layer on top of the icing on the first layer. Repeat the icing process. Do this for the following two layers as well.

When you're done with the fourth (and lightest in color) layer, use the knife to spread the remaining 2/3 icing around the side of the cake, evenly. When you're done, run the knife around the top and side of the cake one more time to make sure it's more or less smooth. Last, add sprinkles in any color and way you want.

Remove the parchment/wax paper by slowly and gently tugging on each piece until they come out smoothly. You should have a pretty clean and frosting-free cake stand.

Serve whenever you're ready. I think your guests will be surprised by the ombre colored layers inside the cake once you cut it. Salute!